What A Tornado Looks Like From Space

Big. Real big.

NASA released an animation yesterday showing the development of a storm system that generated several violent tornadoes in the South over the weekend. A few seconds into the video, disparate clouds converge, then burst back out, moving rapidly to cover entire states. From there, the storm system moves slowly and inexorably across the southeastern U.S.

The animation, based on visible and satellite data of the storm from the National and Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's GOES-East satellite, begins on April 26 at 8:15 p.m. Eastern time and runs until 10:15 a.m. Eastern time on April 28. One of the tornadoes the system created touched down in Arkansas, killing an estimated 16 people, and others have affected Alabama and Mississippi.